Interesting item i came across today, who'd of thought the worlds first digital clock was produced and developed in Hull UK in 1961. Despite getting an order to produce 20 units, this never came to fruition and Mr Bromley let the patent lapse, subsequently snapped up by the Japanese and produced. This is the only prototype Heres the link off the BBC news

Just read about this on the BBC news site, was quite surprised at what it went for (£460) considering it was the first of its kind, and a one off, with the provenance such as the award from 1964, I’d have thought it would made a lot more than that even if they’d just listed it on eBay!

The auction was just a normal general house auction. Reading what David Bromley the son stated after his mother passed away, ie "we just wanted closure" I'm guessing this was just part of a house clearance sale. Deserved to go in a specialist sale really

Looks like Mr Bromley has used a synchronous electric clock motor and equiped it with cam switches to fire each leg of the nixies.Must have taken forever to set up lol. Anyway, despite harking from another lifetime, the notoriously short lived nixies are all working with the exception of No 9 on the r/h side which is very dim. This clock also incorporates a switch to set it going (pull and let go) and a turnwheel to set the time. heres some pics for whoevers interested

Bromley Digitron 001 (800x600).jpg

Struggling Nixie

Bromley Digitron 005 (800x600).jpg

Bromley Digitron 007 (800x600).jpg

Instructions

Bromley Digitron 015 (800x600).jpg

Patent

Bromley Digitron 012 (600x800).jpg

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You might just possibly find a replacement for the failing tube on eBay. If you can manage to read the tube number, and set up a "Saved Search" for that specific number, sooner or later, you may get lucky. Also, you could try switching tube positions (say, putting the failing one in the first position, where it would never have to display a "9"). Despite how antiquated this is, it's definitely worth fixing. I have had Nixie clocks...three of them, currently...for a long time (going on 15 years), and the place just wouldn't look "right" without them.

Good idea about swopping the Nixies Bruce, didnt occur to me No 1 Nixie displays"0" or "1" and thats it. Nixies have sort of passed me by until this clock but amazing to watch the various digits stepping nearer or further away from the case front. I've ordered one of the new "modern" nixie clocks c/w led accent lighting, new units apparently cycle through the ten digits every minute to prevent "poisoning" the tube. Not quite sure how that works but heres the link

I've been using the Bromley Digitron for its intended purpose- as a clock. The problem was , the original Nixies were pretty much shot, not suprising after 58 years. The second problem was the original nixies were GR10H (Digitrons- hence the name), a really early 17 pin nixie made by Ericsson Telephone, that i havent been able to source anywhere, for any amount. My quandary became , do i leave it alone, retain its originality or replace the 17 pin bases for common 13 pin units, fit the nearest available nixie to the original size i could find, thus giving it a new lease of life. I decided on the latter. Luckily, as a nixie virgin, i chanced upon a very helpful chap called David Knight who advised on some of the alternatives and was willing to answer my dull-boy questions.What i learned was -The very early nixies had a very short life (4000 hrs of continuous use in the case of a GR10H) The worst thing you can do to a nixie is put it in a clock. The first hour digit only ever reads " 0" and "1", a death sentence for a nixie (new modern clocks cycle through all the digits to prevent cathode poisoning)There are people out there that collect nixies, the big rare ones sell for mad money. I found the GR10H listed as "Wanted" on a couple of the collectors sites. I settled on a fairly common nixie ZM 1022 made by Valvo, 4mm smaller than my originals. However the life on these more "modern" tubes is 50,000 hours minimum and they can be easily obtained for circa £10 ea- I'd probably still purchase the original nixies for originalities sake if i could find them

With NOS Nixies

bromley 2 001 (800x600).jpg

bromley 2 004 (800x600).jpg

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